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Bruce “the Fierce” (born 1922) was the first Lord of Pelican Island and established the House of Whitney-Ball in North America. He was a descendant of the Viking raider Olaf Ball, Lord of the east coast of England from Hartlepool to Sunderland in the 10th century, as well as the Earls of Traquair, Scotland. A veteran of the US Army, he served as a paratrooper in the European Theater of WWII from 1942-1945. In 1971, while fishing off the coast of the US State of Florida, a storm forced him off course. Making his way by dead reckoning, he charted a course to the west and sought refuge from the gale. As day broke, he found himself off the coast of Alabama on a small barrier island known simply as “Pelican Island”. Setting out to explore this new land, Bruce found it to be a good base for future offshore fishing, and claimed it in the name of the House of Whitney-Ball. He named himself “Lord of Pelican Island”, and established the basis of what would become the Barony of Pelican Island, and ultimately the Kingdom of Elsanor.

Bruce “the Fierce” was known as a daring and indomitable figure, having served with the glider and airborne regiments of the US Army in WWII. He ruled his land with a strict form of law focused on social harmony through compensation and punishment for personal injury or damage to property. Compensations were arranged according to social rank, descending from lord to servant. Though much of the code may be derived from earlier legal custom transmitted orally, Bruce’s Law formed the basis of Elsanor’s Common Law system.

Bruce succumbed to cancer in December of 1991. He was succeeded by his only son, James I.